Blogs from Toyama, Japan, Asia
December 13th 2010
(Blogged on December 14, on the train en route to Matsumoto, posted on 15 December - dates have been adjusted.) We arrived in Toyama from Takayama via train. Took us about two hours. I realized that we have been visiting all the towns with mountain names in them. “Kama” means mountain. The first town was “Inuyama” meaning “Dog Mountain” in literal translation. Not sure why, there were not many dogs as far as I could tell (and I am not even being lame here. Hachiko the famous loyal dog was also not from this town.) “Takayama” means “High Mountain” and “Toyama” means “Wealthy Mountain”. So we were in a wealthy town I suppose? Probably have to read more about the histories of these towns. Apparently Toyama is a pharmaceutical area, hence my interest in stopping by ... read more
June 17th 2010
17 - 06 - 2010 So this is the first of many posts... I'm currently at home in Denmark where I sit and stare out into the nothingness. my head is hurting from a good night out with the boys, and there's only 7 days to go before I'm leaving for Japan! Yatta! It all began roughly 3 months ago when I saw an add on the internet about an Internship offer in Japan. I immediately began writing a application for it. luckily I got it. Next came the planning of when and where to start. and for how long, I'm starting the 9th of August and the Internship ends the 28th of February. I started collecting all the documents for a one year visa, roughly two months before departure. Due to the many documents needed, ... read more
January 1st 2010
Toyama, 30th December 2009 We were quite excited about Toyama, especially as it snowed loads a couple of weeks ago. There was already 110cm of snow in Gokurakuzaka, according to Snow Japan. However, it hadn’t snowed for the last few days, so it wasn’t looking that great, although it did mean that the roads would be easier to navigate. We had another look at the weather forecast the night of our return from Seoul, because our plan was to drive to Otsu on Wednesday and stay the night before heading to Toyama on Thursday for new years. The forecast said there would be no snow on Wednesday but lots on Thursday. That concerned us a bit, and it was constantly in the back of our minds. On Wednesday morning, we set off towards Otsu, and we ... read more
August 11th 2008
Moving swifly on. It was time to reunite the mcgrath family in a new setting and solidify the bonds once again. Having burned his way over X amount of miles from London to Mongolia in not much more than a glorified banger, the brother Tom was planning to make a suprising vist to me in Japan after a brief detour to China. Arriving looking a little worse for wear and certainly different to how I remembered him ( and him possibly to me ) I greeted my brother at Kobe port, having just spent 2 days on a ferry from Shanghai. From there, we downed a quick sichi roll and set off up north to reunite with Denzel, and take in what the Japanese seem to do so well in the summer. Fireworks. It was fair ... read more
May 29th 2008
THE TRAIN TRIP FROM KANAZAWA TO TAKAYAMA WAS TESTAMENT TO THE EFFICIENCY OF JAPAN RAILWAYS. THREE CHANGES OF TRAIN REQUIRED WITH ONLY 4-5 MINUTES CHANGE TIME FOR EACH. YET I STILL CONNECTED AND MADE THE JOURNEY ON TIME. YOU COULD ONLY DREAM ABOUT THAT TYPE OF SERVICE HAPPENING IN AUSTRALIA. ON ARRIVAL I VISITED THE HIDA FOLK VILLAGE, A WONDERFUL SPOT WITH ABOUT 30 RURAL HOUSES DATING BACK TO THE 1600S, RECONSTRUCTED AFTER THE VILLAGE WAS FLOODED FOR A HYDRO SCHEME. THE JAPANESE LOVE MOVING BUILDINGS AND DOING REPLICAS OF BUILDINGS. IN THE EVENING ROD AND INGE HAD HAD A BIG DAY (i MET UP WITH THEM AT OUR HOTEL) SO HAD TAKEAWAY FOR DINNER. i VENTURED OUT AND ENJOYED THE LOCAL HIDA BEEF, SUPPOSEDLY THE BEST IN JAPAN AND WHO AM I TO DISAGREE?... read more
November 14th 2007
Just getting out of my home, I walked along the seacoast. (from Himi-shi to Takaoka-shi) This is a small travel without money and ... lunch, doh! It took 3 hours each way.... read more
November 7th 2007
I've been wondering whether I should go for nature or art as a photo target. As the title indicates, this time I decided to go for art. "Take some pictures of the most gorgeous, the tallest and the largest buildings in Himi-shi!" So what's that? Again as the title indicates, it is modern japanese castle. As I mentioned in my 1st post, the invader "Maeda" is the keyword here. It is his descendant who is building and maintaining these moden japanese castles here in Himi-shi or Toyama-ken and Ishikawa-ken.... read more
November 6th 2007
Hello, everyone. I've just settled in Himi-shi Toyama-ken Japan. So far there is nothing to report as a travel blog but let me introduce a few background stories here. 1stly, I'll explain the history of those unfamiliar address names. Himi stands for "to see fire" in English. Around 16th century a shogun named Maeda who came from southern chinese invaded into this region. Some natives who were holy religious farmers fought against violent Maeda at all costs to protect their own way of life. Arrogant Maeda decided to set fire across the whole area. As a result Maeda won the war and named this area Himi. Toyama stands for "rich mountains" in English. Because Toyama is surrounded by mountains, the origin of this naming would be easy to guess. But before Meiji Restoration at mid-19th century, ... read more
August 30th 2007
En arrivant a Kanazawa, nous nous sommes arretes au kiosque d'informations touristiques pour demander des informations sur le festival de Yatsuo-machi (1 au 3 septembre). Nous avions 2 options pour s'y rendre: prendre le train avec un transfert ayant la chance de pouvoir manquer le dernier train (le festival se deroule le soir, nous ne savions pas trop a quelle heure) ou de participer a une visite guidee de 150$ (souper inclus!). Aucune de ces options nous semblaient interessante, alors nous avons quitte vers l'arret d'autobus pour notre hotel en disant que nous allions y reflechir. Peu apres etre arrives pour attendre l'autobus, la fille du kiosque est venue nous rejoindre en courant avec son guide d'information: elle avait trouve un moyen d'aller au pre-festival le soir-meme pour 40$. Nous craignions que le pre-festival ne soit ... read more
March 21st 2006
Muchos muchos has been happening since my last blog... Where do I start? Firstly the word of the day.... tanoshi (fun!) or cho tanoshi (really fun!) I have been trying to tackle the basics of japanese by trying to remember a new word every day. I might have 20 words before I leave the country. Andy's exhibtions were set up last friday. We were learning japanese expectations on the spot. There are really no galleries with curators in japan for any artists other than those already fabulously famous. It is customary in japan for the artists to set up their own exhibtion and also to sit in the gallery for the entire period of the exhibtion in case anyone happens to come in and want to buy something. I think I am now appreciating all gallery ... read more
